Tag: Wellesley

  • Tracking Wellesley Select Board’s plan to split town, school budgets

    The Wellesley Select Board recently came to consensus about splitting the school budget from the town’s overall spending plan, ending a decades-long practice of consolidating Wellesley’s municipal finances into a single budget. 

    Town Meeting member Michael Tobin proposed the separation at this past spring’s Annual Town Meeting. “This motion is a necessary step,” he said, “toward responsible governance and fiscal transparency.”  

    While some Town Meeting members look forward to more accessible and digestible information about Wellesley’s budgets when Annual Town Meeting begins on March 3, others in town are wary of possible repercussions. 

    The FY26 school budget is $94,035,026, just over 44% of the town’s overall spending plan.

    Town Meeting members for years have been forced to wait until after all town department and School Committee presentations to debate and vote on the entire budget, a process that can take more than one session.

    The school budget is often presented last. If a department item is an issue, a Town Meeting member would need to recall it and refresh the group’s memory.

    Tobin said a dedicated motion for school finances would help members stay organized and lead to better debates. “I expect and hope we’re gonna have better conversations and debates in Town Meetings,” he said, “It’ll be richer conversation … and I think it’s gonna lead to a better outcome.” 

    Katherine Babson proposed the omnibus budget at Town Meeting in 1986. She initially opposed splitting the budget, but describes herself as “agnostic” about the change. She said she would fight any effort to break down the budget further.

    Before 1986,Town Meeting members reviewed as many as 80 separate articles for individual departments. “It went on forever,” Babson said, and in the end, when the voting body got to the last few articles, no one was listening.  

    School Committee Chair Niki Ofenloch and former chair Linda Chow attempted to safeguard the omnibus budget’s original intent. 

    They argued that the omnibus budget has continued to provide a clear representation of school costs. Chow said the School Committee worked hard to sift through and vet the school system’s 426-page budget.

    “We talk a lot about … ‘One Wellesley’ and wanting to approach things with a whole community focus,” said Ofenloch, “and I think that dividing the motions … siloes the schools from the rest of the town.”

    Chow said splitting the budgets may have severe, unintended consequences when uncertainty around school funding continues to swirl. “What message is the Select Board sending by creating this separation?” she asked. 

    During a Sept. 30 meeting about preparation for the 2027 fiscal year, the board confirmed it would be moving forward with the split. Select Board Chair Marjorie Freiman said Town Meeting members wanted “more clarity on how the [school’s] numbers are derived” and to “fully and fairly reflect the cost of schools.” 

    The change may create logistical problems, Chow said. What would happen, for example, if one budget passes and the other doesn’t?

    “If there’s cuts, for some reason, there’s dates … built into the contract by which we need to notify staff members,” she said. “And if we don’t have a balanced budget by any of those dates … in theory, then we don’t have any money past June 30 by which to pay our staff.” 

    Select Board members presented four options for handling unbalanced budgets: requiring the School Committee to prepare a list of potential cuts, drawing on free cash reserves, voting down the town budget, or overriding it.

    Vice Chair Tom Ulfelder told the board the School Committee needs to actively participate in developing the budget from the beginning.

    Many people don’t understand the “extraordinary complexity of educating children in the public school system in Massachusetts today,” Ulfelder said, so they cannot comprehend why the costs are increasing while enrollment is decreasing. 

    Some members of the community still view school as simply reading, writing, and arithmetic, he said. “It’s not just the requirements under special education,” he said, “but it’s the impact of COVID, it’s the social emotional learning, it’s the impact of so many factors that are affecting these children in their safe and healthy development.”

    Wellesley’s foray into splitting the budgets has attracted attention from other regional elected officials. Natick Select Board Chair Bruce Evans said he’ll be monitoring the change. Most Massachusetts municipalities use combined budgets. 

    Evans said there’s a fine line between information overload and the concise information that people are looking for, and Natick is still finding the balance. “I’ll be curious to see how it plays out,” he said.

    Babson, the architect of the combined budget in Wellesley, suggested the revised approach to finances may make it easier for new Town Meeting members.“Older Town Meeting members have been through it a million times,” she said, “while new Town Meeting members might not know … when to say or how to express their questions.”  

    Transparency in the budgeting process, she said, is a reasonable desire. “Maybe we need to do a better job of educating everybody.”

  • State and MassBay land sale forum in Wellesley draws another standing-room only crowd

    Dozens of Wellesley residents gathered at MassBay Community College on the night of Oct. 8  to comment on the potential sale of 45 acres of land—a parking lot and a swath of verdant forest— to a housing developer under the state’s Affordable Homes Act. 

    MassBay President David Podell, Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance’s Acting Deputy Commissioner of Real Estate Abigail Vladeck, and affordable policy housing expert Eric Shupin from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities sat at the front of the room to field questions and comments from members of the public.

    This was the second such forum held at MassBay’s Wellesley campus in the past few weeks, and the proposed land sale has been the topic of numerous town board meetings of late.

    Although standard issues such as increased traffic and complaints about a perceived lack of communications were mentioned, Wellesley residents’ dominant concern seemed focused on the potential loss of wildlands adjacent to the beloved Centennial Reservation.

     “What I’m confused about … is why people keep talking about the forest being destroyed. I think we’re all here saying that can’t happen,” said community member Ann-Mara Lanza to thunderous applause.

     Michael Tobin, president of the Wellesley Conservation Land Trust, said his organization’s mission, among other things, is to protect and preserve the town’s natural environment. 

     “We advocate for protecting all this forested land in perpetuity in the course of this MassBay initiative,” said Tobin at the forum.  “If the parking lot parcel is being developed, we propose at the same time permanently protecting the 40 acres of natural forest.”

     MassBay and DCAMM officials demurred when asked whether the natural area would be preserved.

    “DCAMM and HLC (Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities) are engaged in active discussions with Wellesley residents and leaders to help shape a development that considers the priorities of the town while also meeting the Commonwealth’s urgent need for more housing,” said Hannah Carrillo, director of external affairs for DCAMM. 

    “While the college does not have sole discretion in this matter, our goal is to come to a conclusion that is a ‘win win win,’” said Podell, referring to a land deal that would protect land adjacent to Centennial Reservation, provide affordable housing, and help fund new student facilities and projects at MassBay. 

    The college hopes to construct a new building to house its growing cybersecurity program, an athletic facility, and mental health resources for students. College officials have said proceeds from the land sale would pay a sizable portion of the project, along with state funding and community fundraising. 

    “The topic we’re discussing today stems from a desire by MassBay to build a new building on this side of the street that would house our growing cybersecurity program,” Podell said at the meeting. The new buildings, he said, would allow local residents to participate in cybersecurity workshops, and the athletic facility would be available to residents when not in use by students. 

    Traffic concerns were also raised throughout the meeting. 

    “In terms of the traffic study, we were planning on doing some work to understand potential trip counts that might be generated, but in order to do that you have to know what the program is,” Vladeck said. “In other words, how much housing of what type is going where? We’ll at least get to this point before we’ll have the information … to then format that sort of calculation.” 

    Many questions asked by Wellesley residents had no answer, including those about a timeline for the project.

    “A timeline for this is not yet available as the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance and the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities are still gathering information to inform the request for proposals,” said Carrillo to Swellesley. “Once the RFP is issued, it will be made available for several weeks, followed by the review and selection process, the length of which will vary depending on the volume of proposals received. More information on the timeline will become available as the process moves forward.” 

    Although many attendees weren’t satisfied by answers given by Podell, Vladeck, and Shupin at Wednesday’s meeting, others said they were grateful to have had an opportunity to share their concerns and ask questions before the project started. 

    “I’m grateful to MassBay’s willingness to integrate a conversation with our community, providing these forums and feedback, for listening and learning what’s important to residents,” said forum attendee Deed McCollum. “I understand you did not have to do this. You could’ve just moved forward, so I really appreciate the fact that you took the time and are making the time to speak with us.”

    Several poster boards set up outside the meeting showcased potential housing developments to gather feedback from residents. There were also boards set up to offer attendees another chance to ask questions to MassBay and DCAMM, and tell them how they feel the institutions can positively contribute to the community.

    “It has been our practice to be transparent with all of our communities, and MassBay intends to continue that practice as it relates to this project as well,” said Podell to Swellesley. “There will be additional opportunities to engage on this project.”

  • Wellesley sports fields to get lifesaving heart devices

    It’s a soccer Saturday morning at Sprague Field in Wellesley, a wholesome and healthy vision of Americana, featuring swarms of sweaty young athletes and sidelines populated by cheering parents, grandparents and siblings.

    It would be easy in this idyllic setting, standing in cool Autumn air with mid-morning sun on your shoulders, to feel insulated from the grim possibilities of life. With so much going right, what could possibly go wrong? Cardiac arrests, heart attacks and life-threatening arrhythmias are remote threats, until a kid is clutching her chest.

    Soon, Wellesley’s sports fields will be equipped to respond to cardiac emergencies. Two Automated External Defibrillators, portable devices designed to shock hearts back into normal rhythm, should be installed in coming months. Then coaches and others will be trained to use them.

    “I think, sadly, it’s not something that people become aware of until it’s something that affects them,” said Katie Stewart, a nurse practitioner specializing in cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. As a mom with young athletes, she knows the dangers. More than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside a hospital each year. Of those, 90% are fatal, according to a report by the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, a national non-profit group focused on eliminating preventable deaths. Approximately four out of every 10 sudden cardiac arrests in children are sports related.

    Stewart knows the statistics too well. She runs the Cardiovascular Performance Program with a team of physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the advocacy chair for the Massachusetts chapter of the American College of Cardiology and a member of the American College of Cardiology Sports and Exercise Council.

    “Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in youth sports. It can strike healthy kids with no warning on the field at practice or even on the sidelines,” she said. “We know that every minute without CPR and AED reduces the survival chances by 10%, so after about 10 minutes survival is almost zero. But with immediate CPR and AED, survival rates can triple.”

    Wellesley Health Department Director Lenny Izzo provided an update at a Board of Health meeting earlier in September. “Fire has put the purchase through, so we’re just waiting for the devices to be delivered,” he said, adding that AEDs are available at town buildings. He said two AEDs will be installed at Sprague and Hunnewell fields, followed by more in the future.

    Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that results in the thickening of walls in the heart’s main pumping chamber, is often asymptomatic, according to a fact sheet from the National Institutes of Health. Emergencies can be triggered by strenuous physical activity.

    A 2018 NIH study estimated 18,000 Americans have shockable cardiac arrests in public each year, and about 1,700 lives are saved by AEDs. 

    “Wellesley has always been a leader in education in youth development, and public health,” Stewart said. “I think this is another chance to lead by making our athletic fields not just places for play, but also places of safety.” 

    Wellesley Fire Department Lieutenant Paul Delaney said the portable defibrillators will include a label with picture-based instructions, and simple audio directions are available in English and Spanish, so the device can be used by most people. 

    One major benefit of AEDs is this: the equipment is available 24/7. 

    “If AEDs are available in our community, and our community is trained to use them, we’re not just protecting the student athletes, we’re also protecting the parents, the coaches and the grandparents who are spectators on those fields,” Stewart said. 

    Wellesley United Soccer Club Intown Director Joe Morais said he’s always worried about children playing sports without nearby AEDs. He oversees the pre-K through third-grade program, and professionally coaches three club teams that play games at Elm Bank Reservation. 

    Despite being trained on how to use the devices, Morais said his teams have not had access to portable AEDs. 

    “It [will be] like a huge relief having one,” he said. “Before you start coaching every season you have to take like a safety sport course. It’s always terrifying going through because you’re like, ‘Oh, this could really happen one day.’” 

    AED training can be completed in as little as 30 minutes. Many Wellesley police officers carry the portable defibrillators in their patrol cars.

    “It’s rare to find an AED on a field like this,” said Wellesley Youth Field Hockey coach and parent Jonathan Gerbode-Grant, a nurse practitioner specializing in cardiology. He said he rarely considers the risk of playing sports without access to the devices. “Would it make me feel more comfortable, sure. Especially because adults and kids are around. We don’t know if anyone has a pre-existing health condition.”